Lord Drayson: The deployment of UK Forces to Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led international security assistance force is expected to peek at around 5,700, before reducing to around 5,000 in the autumn. As with all operational commitments, we will continue to review requirements as circumstances change.

Lord Rooker: Aquaculture in England consists largely of the cultivation of trout in freshwater and bivalve molluscs (eg oysters and mussels) in marine sites, although production is relatively small in relation to the UK as a whole and to other member states.
	Defra has sponsored projects investigating the nature and extent of the impact of aquatic contaminants (effluents, pesticides, antibiotics and hormones), arising from intensive aquaculture, on the reproduction, migration and survival of wild salmonids, as well as an investigation into the impact of non-native fish species on indigenous stocks. In addition, and related to shellfish aquaculture, the department has sponsored a research project assessing the ecological impact of using wild mussel seed in mussel culture. We have also commissioned a project which aims to develop best practice in movements of shellfish stock for aquaculture (to avoid further distribution of introduced pests).

Lord Triesman: The Government are fully committed to securing an international treaty on the trade in all conventional arms. We are working with a range of partners to bring forward a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly first committee this autumn, which will start a formal UN process. We want to make good progress, but this must be at a pace that will take other countries with us. Our latest round of global lobbying clearly indicated that, while there is good support for the start of a UN process beginning with the formation of group of governmental experts, there is at this stage only very limited support for moving straight to an open-ended working group. We shall continue to work closely with a wide variety of partners in the run-up to first committee.

Lord Triesman: An anonymised copy of the letter to the noble Lord from my honourable friend the then Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs (Ian Pearson) of 27 April, concerning British overseas citizenship and registration as a British citizen, will be placed in the Library of the House.

Lord Rooker: European legislation states that each competent control authority shall, with regard to the requirements or standards for which it is responsible, carry out checks on at least 1 per cent. of all farmers submitting aid applications. It goes on to say, where the legislation applicable to the act and standards already fix minimum control rates, those rates shall in so far be applied instead of this minimum rate.
	In England, cross compliance is checked by three competent control authorities: the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the State Veterinary Service and the Rural Payments Agency.
	The cross compliance legislation requires reductions to be made from single payment scheme (SPS) claims when non-compliances are discovered. The legislation requires reductions to be applied in the calendar year of finding. Where the payment has not yet been made then reductions will be applied directly to the SPS claim. Where the SPS payment has already been made then recovery action will be taken.

Lord Rooker: The Countryside Agency's Omnibus Tracking Survey to monitor public awareness and understanding of the Countryside Code and the right of open access commenced in August 2004. Between the first wave of the survey in August 2004, and the start of the third wave which began in August 2005, the agency's open access project expenditure, funded by Defra, totalled just under £12.4 million.
	In addition, Defra has funded national park authorities and the Planning Inspectorate to implement Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. In the two financial years covered by the survey, national park authorities were allocated £1.85 million in 2004–05 and £2.875 million in 2005–06. The Planning Inspectorate was also funded £1.47 million in 2004–05 and £0.44 million in 2005–06 to deal with appeals against the inclusion of land on provisional maps and restriction appeals.
	We do not hold information on the expenditure by local highway authorities on open access between August 2004 and August 2005 in addition to those costs which are funded centrally.

Lord Rooker: The Countryside Agency's four-year monitoring programme commenced in 2004–05. The pilot year has been completed with 2005–06 being the first full monitoring year. Findings from the England Day Visitor Survey and the Omnibus Tracking Survey will be made available later this year and we expect the results of the first years of monitoring to be made available towards the end of 2007. The monitoring programme will include the 2006 summer holiday period.

Lord Rooker: The Natural England partnership's initial evidence, fact-finding and research work has been financed from within the Countryside Agency's existing Open Access Programme budget, with additional support from English Nature and Rural Development Service staff. Defra will finance the eventual consultation from within its departmental expenditure allocation.

Lord Goldsmith: Guardsman McGing provided two written witness statements to the Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch (11/02/04 and 19/04/04); he was later arrested and interviewed under caution (13/05/04). Guardsman McCleary was arrested and interviewed under caution (27/04/04). Lance Corporal Cooke provided a written witness statement during which he became a suspect and was immediately arrested and interviewed under caution. (27/04/04). Colour Sergeant Selman made a written witness statement (21/03/04) and was subsequently arrested and interviewed under caution (14/05/04).
	Copies of the statements and transcripts of the interviews under caution (along with copies of the tapes) were provided to the Army Prosecuting Authority.
	Edited versions of the interviews under caution and the witness statements were read out during the trial, apart from those of Colour Sergeant Selman which, following legal argument, were excluded from evidence and did not go before the court.
	Transcripts of the evidence given to the court martial are available.

Lord Goldsmith: Four Iraqis were alleged to have been made to walk into the Shatt Al Basra Canal; the deceased, Mr Hanoun and two others who appear not to have been known to Mr Hanoun and did not come forward as witnesses.
	Mr Hanoun provided an initial statement to the Royal Military Police, which was recorded in English with the aid of an interpreter. The statement had the usual declaration on it that the statement was true to the knowledge and belief of the witness and that he made it knowing that if it was tendered in evidence he would be liable for prosecution if he wilfully stated in it anything that he knew to be false or did not believe to be true. It was unclear, following evidence at the trial, whether the statement was ever read back to him before he signed it and there was no addendum at the bottom of the statement that had been signed by the interpreter to indicate that this had been done.
	The Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch (SIB) then took over the case and video interviewed Mr Hanoun, assisted by a locally employed SIB interpreter. In the UK a detailed examination of the translation took place when a written transcript of the interview was prepared (it became apparent that there were significant inaccuracies with the interpretation that had taken place at the time the interview was conducted). Further written statements were taken from Mr Hanoun with the benefit of an interpreter and this process was recorded onto tape and the translations checked.
	All recordings and videos were provided to the Army Prosecuting Authority together with transcripts. The tape recordings and video of Mr Hanoun's witness interviews were not played to the court other than very small excerpts. While a full transcript of those interviews was available and used in cross-examination it was not produced to the court.

Lord Goldsmith: In reaching its decision to prosecute the Army Prosecuting Authority gave consideration to the following:
	The evidence set out in the statements and interviews of Mr Hanoun and the deceased's father.
	The accounts provided by the accused either by way of the statements that had made or the interviews that had been undertaken.
	Statements taken from other members of the accused's section.
	Statements taken from No 1 Platoon and No 1 Company the Irish Guards.
	The medical evidence.
	Statements provided by the investigators.
	Expert evidence regarding the canal.
	Two experienced Queen's Counsel also separately considered the evidence and advised the Army Prosecuting Authority that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the case. The judge advocate in the court martial himself held that there was evidence on which a properly directed jury could convict the accused by throwing out a defence submission that there was insufficient evidence for three out of the four guardsmen to proceed with the trial.

Lord Rooker: All four health boards currently provide retinal screening services for people with diabetes through a range of health professionals including hospital ophthalmologists, diabetologists, GPs, optometrists and the Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Service (DRSS). Using retinal digital photography, the DRSS is currently being extended to include all people with diabetes from age 12.
	The following table shows the number of people with diabetes in each health and social services board area and the number and percentage in each board area who received retinal screening between 1 January 2005 and 31 March 2006 (1 April 2005–31 March 2006 for the Western Board).
	
		
			 Health Board ofresidence Number* of people with diabetes (aged 16 years and over) registered in 2005–06 Number (percentage) that received retinal screening (aged 12 years and over) 
			 Northern 13,260 11,044 (83.3) 
			 Eastern 22,656 18,469 (81.5) 
			 Southern 10,175 7,919 (77.8) 
			 Western 8,715 5,972 (68.5) 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Service Boards.
	*Note: The number of people with diabetes are those known cases, aged 16 years and over, registered in primary care.
	Retinal screening includes people with diabetes who have been screened using digital retinal photography by the DRSS and those who have had their retinas examined by other methods.
	The number of people with diabetes who received retinal screening is available only for 1 January 2005–31 March 2006 period for the Eastern, Southern and Northern Health Boards. Western Board figures represent those that were screened between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006.

Baroness Andrews: Statistics on family breakdown are currently not available at neighbourhood level and as the index includes only indicators that measure a major feature of deprivation (ie not conditions experienced by a small number of people or areas), it is unlikely that a measure of family breakdown would be suitable for inclusion in the index.

Baroness Andrews: It is estimated that the number of home inspectors required in England and Wales by 1 June 2007 will be between 5,000 and 7,400. The replacement rate for inspectors is estimated to be around 10 per cent. per year.

Lord Triesman: The UK works closely with the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the Kosovo Government and other international organisations seeking to improve the judicial system and tackle organised crime and corruption.
	The UK provides around 65 police officers to UNMIK to assist with law enforcement in Kosovo and provided expertise and equipment to increase the effectiveness of the Kosovo Organised Crime Unit (now called the Directorate of Organised Crime). We have provided witness protection equipment to the local district courts in order to enable them to secure a victim's testimony and also specialist IT training for the Kosovo Police Service. In addition, the Department for International Development is working to strengthen the new Ministries of Justice and Interior. Our contribution in supplying the witness protection equipment was recognised by Soren Jessen-Petersen, UN special representative in Kosovo, in his recent report to the UN Security Council.
	We also contribute almost 19 per cent. of the funding to the EU's external assistance programme to the western Balkans—the Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS) programme. Between 2005 and 2006, CARDS has allocated €143.5 million to Kosovo, €11.6 million is devoted to justice and home affairs issues.
	The instrument for pre-accession replaces CARDS from 2007 as the EU's financial instrument which streamlines all pre-accession assistance within a single framework. The EU has not yet reached a decision on the financial allocations for any of the countries covered by the instrument.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also paid for an official from the Department for Constitutional Affairs to go to Kosovo last December to carry out an assessment on the Kosovo judicial system. The findings acknowledged progress that UNMIK has made in setting up a judicial system in Kosovo, and also highlighted the challenges that this fledgling structure still faces.
	We will continue to look for other opportunities to support the Kosovo Government.

Northern Ireland: Peace II Funding

Lord Rooker: Consultation on the Peace II extension attracted some 500 participants and 70 written responses. Many highlighted the need for an increased focus on reconciliation. The consultation committee therefore recommended integrating the Brandon Hamber/Grainne Kelly proposals into project selection and making reconciliation count for 20 per cent. of a project's overall score, not 6 per cent. as previously.
	The SEUPB's consultation document, which includes a list of the members of the consultation committee, will be placed in the Library of the House.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: Precise comparisons between the cost of the European Parliament and the Houses of Parliament are difficult. The requested information is set out below. As with last year's answers to similar questions, the House of Commons and House of Lords have provided data relating to costs on a resource basis, consistent with their resource accounts. The European Parliament has not adopted resource accounting and budgeting and all its cost figures have been presented on a cash basis.
	
		
			 Per capita cost per member(£'000s) 2005–06 unaudited provisionalfigures 
			 House of Commons (1) (2) 726 
			 House of Lords (2) 149 
		
	
	Figures for 2000–01, to 2004–05 for the House of Commons and House of Lords can be found in the relevant year's resource accounts (6) (7). European Parliament figures are available on their website (8).
	Annual Costs
	European Parliament
	The European Parliament outturn figures for calendar years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and budget figures for 2005 and 2006 can be found on the European Parliament website (8).
	
		House of Commons -- £ millions
		
			  2005–06 provisional unaudited outturn 
			 Members salaries, pensions travel andallowances (3) 146.2 
			 Salaries and pensions for administrativestaff (4) 61.0 
			 Accommodation costs, including rent,operating costs and security 93.5 
			 Other administration costs (5) 168.1 
			 Total 468.8 
		
	
	Details of previous years' expenditure by the House of Commons can be found in the Members and administration resource accounts (6).
	
		House of Lords -- £ millions
		
			  2005–06 provisionalunaudited outturn 
			 Members expenses 15.2 
			 House of Lords staff costs 16.4 
			 Accommodation costs (2) 56.3 
			 Other administration costs 17.9 
			 Total 105.8 
		
	
	Details of previous years' expenditure by the House of Lords can be found in their resource accounts(7).
	
		Number of Sitting Days
		
			 Sitting Days 2004–05 Session CalendarYear 2005 2005–06 Financial Year 
			 European ParliamentPlenary Session (8) (9) 38 48 51.5 
			 House Of CommonsChamber 65 133 137 
			 House Of Commons,Westminster Hall 39 83 86 
			 House Of Lords Chamber 63 126 132 
			 House Of Lords, GrandCommittee 29 55 60 
		
	
	(1) The figures are calculated on the assumption that there are 659 Members.
	(2) From 2004-05 onwards the figures are based on the capital charge reducing from 6 per cent. to 3.5 per cent.
	(3) The 2005 General Election saw additional Member salary costs of £5.4 million arising from the payment of resettlement grants, as well as the winding-up allowance costs of £3.5 million payable to those Members who stood down.
	(4) Higher salary costs in 2005–06 represent an increase in the employer pension contribution from 18.7 per cent. to 22.6 per cent.
	(5) The other administration costs include a one-off technical accounting adjustment of £115.8 million to recognise the full pension liability following the adoption of new accounting standard FRS117.
	(6) House of Commons Resource Accounts can be found on their website (HC419, HC420, HC67, HC68, HC1239, HC1240) at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhocpap.htm£resource.
	(7) House of Lords Resource Accounts can be found on their website (HL23, HL44, HLI 1, HL197) at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldres.htm.
	(8) European Parliament budget information and number of members can be found on its website at www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/budget/www/index-en.htm and www.europarl.org.uk/.
	(9) 2004 being an election year, had fewer meeting days than a normal year.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: Economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union are in progress. It will not be possible fully to assess what protection has been secured for these countries until those negotiations are finalised by the end of 2007.
	However, on 10 April the General Affairs and External Relations Council agreed conclusions, which highlighted the need for the EPAs to be "development instruments complementary to the overall development efforts in order to eradicate poverty and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals". These conclusions also emphasised the need for EPAs to take into account "all parties' respective political choices" and stressed the importance of the scheduled review of EPAs, as outlined in the Cotonou agreement, scheduled to take place later this year. The conclusions make clear that this review should be full and comprehensive with participation by the ACP and, as supported by the UK, it should determine whether the development needs of the ACP are being addressed.
	The UK has been instrumental in engaging other EU member states on EPAs through various fora established during our presidency of the EU; we believe that without this engagement these council conclusions may not have happened. The UK will work to ensure that the development commitments in these conclusions and set out in the Cotonou agreement are taken forward.

Baroness Amos: The cornerstone of preventing obstetric fistulae is prompt access to good quality healthcare when needed. DfID is committed to helping countries expand access to healthcare, including family planning, safe abortion services, antenatal and obstetric services.
	DfID is the only major bilateral donor to have a strategy focused on reducing maternal mortality. Copies of the first progress report on the strategy have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
	The effects of fistula can be devastating for the lives of girls and women, whose babies often die. Rendered incontinent, they are often rejected by their husbands, thrown out of their homes and excluded from community life. DfID is therefore committed to promoting the rights of girls and women, particularly their sexual and reproductive rights. DfID is also committed to the elimination of harmful practices such as early marriage and female genital mutilation which can significantly increase the risk of fistula.
	DfID bilateral expenditure on maternal and reproductive health has increased by 42 per cent. over the past three years to £243 million. DfID targets some funding through NGOs to tackle obstetric fistula. For example, DfID has provided a grant of £558,000 to the Engender Health and Women's Dignity Project to combat obstetric fistula in Tanzania and Uganda, and £140,000 to the Obstetric Fistula in Africa Project. To complement our country level support, DfID channels funds through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). DfID provides £20 million a year core funding and in 2004, £10 million specifically for reproductive health supplies. DfID also provides an annual contribution of £19 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and £12.5 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose programmes support work on women's empowerment and maternal and reproductive health.
	On 27 June 2006, the UNFPA will be launching a high-profile media campaign on obstetric fistula. I will attend this event on behalf of the Secretary of State for International Development.
	The UNFPA has chosen to locate the campaign in the UK to maximise the political commitment of the UK to addressing the millennium development goal targeted at improving maternal health.